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That Loopy Loop! Yep, just two weekends ago?!?! I have to say it was amazing. Maybe that proves I’m crazy and love suffering…or the Biggie Loop was as close to exactly what I wanted to create, that it felt like magic to be out there. The first day and a half I was stoked beyond words and totally focused on being efficient, smart and relatively fast. I stayed stoked, but it spread into my thoughts as I thought more and more about life and all that has come to be, all the changes, the amazing life that is now mine! Its a powerful to feel love of the life you are living.

I got so stoked on my life. I thought so much about Rachel and Lillian and how lucky I am, that I got super homesick around the end of day two. Nothing like pushing your mind and body almost to the limit, all the while the brain churns and chews, digests, regurgitates. All strung out from pushing 110 miles a day, dehydrated, sunburnt, depleted, it leaves your heart and mind open to stimulus, thought and it all comes back to those girls. I think about the adventure I am on, possible races and adventures to come, work, the future, the world, etc…and everything comes back to those girls. I crave being out there, I love pushing my brain and body to go and go, it feels amazing to be outside for almost 3 days, yet I motivate to keep moving, so I can get home to my loves.

No here I am back to reality. Back to work, although I am retiring from Rock N Roll at the end of September. Its a big change, but I’ve needed to take a break from being that involved in someone else’s business. I stepped back big time this summer, and now I’m almost done. Its a relief and a a bit of a let down. Still, between two jobs I’m working 6 days a week thru the end of September, its not always easy to motivate for that many alarms, but its worth it. My life is worth it. Its a whole lot of new and takes it lots of deep breaths, its draining to the marrow sometimes, and yet, its amazing.

What A Freaking Route! Riders have chimed in and there is no doubt that these two Loops are special beyond words. These are not Tour Divide cruising, in fact mile for mile The Loopy’s are harder than the CTR and AZT. But that difficulty comes with some serious bennies. These rides are jammed pack with wild n crazy single track that keeps your mind focused, your hands pummeled, and your smile beaming. Every turn delivers more endless mountain views, fields of flowers, and more single track! Think less touring, more ultra enduro trail riding. So many Rocks and More Rocks!

Top of Hike a Bike to Timberline Trail

There might be a couple small tweaks to the routes for 2020, but nothing big. These beautiful babies are almost exactly what I wanted to create, the Ultimate Trail Rider Loops. If you are looking for an amazing and hard weekend adventure, Don’t wait to commit!!! Plan on making it to the 2020 Gunny Loopy Loop!

The weather looks amazing, hot days, cool nights, chilly mornings, very little rain in the forecast. In fact be careful with fire out there, no fire restrictions that I’m aware of, but its dry.

A couple notes I want to bring up:

I didn’t mention in the cues that we will be taking “Death Pass/Trl409.1a” a tiny bypass along Brush Creek Rd. Same as Last Year! I updated the cues to reflect this. The road is acceptable! But the trail is a bit shorter and less climbing. Again either is fine. I also updated the Shortie Map/GPX to reflect this as well. I apologize if this is confusing or a pain. The Biggie Map is correct for this section, but the Biggie cues have also been corrected. This is only a mile or so and not significant of a change. I will also go over this Friday night is anyone has any questions. This bypass happens at ~mile 83 for the Shortie and ~mile 112 for the Biggie.

I also want to reiterate that this is a self supported, DIY style ride. No Outside Support! If you know the person, just say no.

Again, super casual get together at the Dive in Gunny, Friday the 30, from 5-7. The Dive is right on HWY 50, next to Safeway. I’ll have a map and a laptop with the latest GPX files. I will also be there to answer any questions or concerns.

Start is downtown Gunny, IOOF Park on the second block of North Main St, 4:AM. This is also the finish, please take a selfie in front of the water fountain and send me this with a text the time and day that you finished. I’ll be sure you all have my number before we start.

Thought Id share my kit as of now for the 2019 Gunny Loopy Loop, Biggie Loop. I might tweak a few things over the next couple weeks, but most of whats shown will be part of what keeps me hydrated, fed, warm-ish, and dry. I’ll go over a few things but if there’s questions please let me know.

Think that is all. It is very similar to what I’ve been carrying over the years. I sometimes add and subtract a few things, but this is a good representation of my core kit. I don’t plan on sleeping all that much, 1.5-3 hours a day, and I run pretty warm. I Did Not put this together only based on weight or space, but knowing what I can handle over lots of trail and error. I might add a bit more warm stuff if we get a cold snap in the next couple weeks, otherwise, Loopy Loop here I come!!!

Just a bit here about water on the Loopy Loops. There is abundant surface water, its been a flowing summer so most creeks are running. I’m not going to list all the water sources as there are too many to count. I will point out a couple dry sections.

From Beaver Crk/RD726 @~mile 28.5 once we climb out of this valley I’m not sure of many water sources till we hit Little Mill Crk@~mile 46. Although it is very possible there are some small creeks that I’m not remembering.

From there water crossings happen fairly often, I’d dare to guess every 4-5 miles, so water is pretty easy till…

The last section from Fossil Ridge/Beaver Mcintyre, is mostly dry once you do the big last climb out. There is water sometimes next to the CT Spur Singletrack in the creek along Lost Canyon Rd, also sometimes a tiny spring next to trail in trees. After that the high sage road to Signal section is dry, but also pretty fast, so town and cold drinks are not far away.

I’m taking three bottles, 1/.75L, 2/.65L, so 2.3 Liters as my water capacity. 2 to 3 Liters should be plenty for most, some could do as little as 2 bottles, but do some research!

If anyone has specific questions about water or anything else, feel free to let me know.

That’s right we are just two weeks away from go time for the Gunny Loopy Loop.

Starts in Gunnison, August 31st, 4:AM.

I’m including links to the Shortie and Biggie Maps, from Plotaroute you can convert right there to GPX file and then use Topofusion, Base Camp or another program upload to a GPS. Maps are more or less set and finalized at this point.